I've used it everyday for almost 2 weeks. I even purchased it during the half price special for $14.99 but I requested a refund. Before I get to that, let me highlight its strengths:

Strengths:
1. It truly encourages you to journal given the blinking icon in the menu bar that blinks until you journal for the day (this feature can be turned off).

2. It is attractively designed.

3. It can be password-protected (but I'm not sure if it's encrypted--I don't think so).

4. It collects data even when you do not journal (the feature that attracted me).

5. You can import from MacJournal (text only though).

6. I hear customer service is excellent. I've not had personal experience here.

7. You can add screen captures (even in the setting of multiple monitors) right from the menubar icon.

8. The menu bar drop-down window shows you which topics you didn't address for the day.

9. The number of unaddressed topics flash on the menubar icon.

10. You can backup and restore the database.

Weaknesses:
1. The deal-breaker for me: no ability to import from other programs (I never used MacJournal) or formats (like html, doc, pdf, txt, rtf).

2. You can ONLY export the diary text to external programs.

3. The program separates the automatically collected data into what seems to be a proprietary format so you can't export it with the corresponding journal entries.

4. You can't paste or otherwise insert photos into the diary text.

5. You can't add captions to photos.

6. There is currently no ability to sync.

7. There is no corresponding application for a mobile device nor compatibility with evernote, google docs or any other cloud service.

8. $39.99 or even $29.99 seems a bit steep for a journaling program. I think $5 or $10 makes more sense although I was surprisingly willing to pony up $15 before I realized importing my 11 years worth of journal entries and photos from my Windows journaling software (which was free by the way and very powerful) would be impossible to entirely too difficult.

9. No convenient listing of entries or days with entries.

10. No ability to add multiple entries for one day.

Lastly, aside from fixing the aforementioned, here are some things I think would make this program worth purchasing for me:

1. Ability to add audio clips.

2. Ability to add video clips.

3. Ability to create separate journals (like by year for example).

4. Ability to archive (preferably w/compression).

5. It would be nice to be able to enter some text right in to the drop down window from the menu bar similar to FaceTab or Facebox.

6. Ability to interact with social media sites like Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn, etc.

7. Ability to trace mood throughout the day.

8. Automatic time-stamps (optionally turn on/off) associated with entries.

9. Ability to trace other data like weight, plans/goals, etc.

10. Perhaps borrow from the iOS app 9 Square Diary for the menu bar icon (or even a separate optional icon) that lets you quickly make entries relevant to specific topics like events, news, progress made, frame of mind, dreams, food, etc.

If the weaknesses I've listed above are unimportant to you and you can live without my suggestions here, then this application is well worth your time!

I have been using this app for a couple of years. It makes keeping my journal actually very easy, instead of the chore I usually find it to be. The full screen use of Lion is nice, as I really like the Lion OS.

Great update. Well worth the price.

This is a wonderful program. They have really thought of everything--it's fascinating to look back and not only be able to read your thoughts through journal entries, but to see a photo and emails and various information from that day. The design is very attractive. I think my favorite feature is how it sits in your menu bugging you until you enter something...it's hard to forget to write in it! And I love that.

Probably most important, the developers have a real commitment to customer service and satisfaction. I got a new computer and when I installed Chronories into the new computer and tried to import my backed up data, it didn't work. Within the time it took to exchange three emails with the help desk, my problem was fixed to a surprisingly customized degree. I was "wowed!" Which is why I'm writing this review. I highly recommend Chronories.

Grace T Segal

This application is awesome. The only drawbacks for me are: 1) trying to customize the features to your own needs doesnt seem to work. I don't want/need to see what sites I've visited, or my email. That seems a little to intrusive. 2) I can't sync between my iMac and my Macbook Pro.

Otherwise, this application is sweet! I checked out quite a few journal applications, even purchased a couple other less expensive ones and none even compare to the quality and usability of Chronories.

If you're looking for a great journaling tool. . .you just found it!

Stopped using it.

If there were some way to more carefully customize what types of data is collected it would help.

Too many quirks and information that hogs space. Graphs look good but information they display is... so-so.

Too bad since in general the app is very nicely done.

Like the concept, but is there any way to prevent it from gradually using gigabytes worth of real memory? After a while, it's using close to 2GB to 4GB of ram! I have 8GB of ram for a reason and it's not to give a small utility such as this free reign over memory I need for pro apps.

I really like Chronories 1.0 that I installed today. All the features and customizations make it a very usable, valuable and excellent journal. I have, however, two questions for which I cannot find the answers in the available documentation.

1. Only All Day iCal appointments show up, but none of the hourly appointments are being displayed.

2. The Sites Visited is not displaying any of my visited web sites. I use Chrome 5.0 (my default browser) and sometimes FireFox or Safari 5. Must I use a specific browser to show my visited web sites? It seems the default browser should be logged into Chronories.

These are not serious problems, but maybe someone has an easy fix for these inconveniences.

Thanks.
Deep_Blue